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It was a fine day in the Times Square. The sun was shining and New Yorkers living their regular lives seemed to be content. They were oblivious to the fact that everything would change soon, no thanks to a certain white haired lad and his twin, who stoodpproximately ten meters away from him. “Been a while, Wes.” said Ronald with a loud tone. “Sure has, Ronnie.” replied Wesley. He opened his hands and showed them to his twin, as they lost their color slowly and started to crack like ice. “You have been scheming I see.” remarked Ronald and showed him his left hand, which was vibrating at high speeds. It almost seemed like a chainsaw. “I could say the same for you. How about we see how successful our schemes have become?” Wesley took a step forward but before he could take another his twin interrupted. “No. There are other people around... Innocent people that have nothing to do with this.” Ronald waited to see how Wesley would react.

“Hah! You think I care?!” replied the white haired man. This wasn't a surprise for his twin, even though he had hoped for more maturity and common sense after not having seen him for a long while. “I know what you think very well Wes. But even then, you don’t have to this. It doesn't have to be Dublin all over again.” Ronald tried to reason with his twin but he didn't listen. Wesley engulfed his hand with ice and unleashed it towards Ronald. Using his speed, Ronald dodged and vibrated his hand. Passing it through the ice, he destroyed it. Seeing this didn’t break Wesley’s spirit though. He continued launching shards of ice towards Ronald. He was using so many of them that even if some of them missed by default, it would hit a nearby person. Meanwhile the civilians had already panicked; seeing two people with superpowers couldn’t be a good sign. Wesley knew that his twin would try to either get people out of harms way or try to destroy all of the shards, so he carried on with his plan. He started to freeze the ground around him. The thin layer of ice advanced in every direction originating from his location and it eventually reached Ronald. The speedster inevitably made contact with the frozen ground and slipped. He hit his head to the ground, though at his speed it was enough concuss a regular person. As he tried to get up, Wesley skated on the ice to get near him. Once he was close enough, he transformed his right hand into a gigantic ice spear and tried to impale Ronald with it. But at the last second Ronald managed to vibrate his cells and become intangible.

“You learned some new tricks I see.” said Wesley, annoyed. Ronald immediately stood up and ran away. Though it was slippery on ice, he could manage to run on it by sacrificing from his initial speed and making his steps harder. As he started to run around Wesley he started to feel the chill. It seemed like his twin had also expanded his arsenal. He could now not only decrease the temperature of his body, but also of the environment around him. “Wes stop!” yelled Ronald, but to no avail. By this time the crowd had already started to scream and run away in terror. As Ronald continued to run and the Times Square slowly but consistently became colder, a familiar face made an appearance to the speedster. “He won’t stop, you know.” said a voice, as its source soon manifested right next to Ronald. It was the Moment. She liked to appear at dire situations, like this one. “Yeah I do realize that.” he said, feeling even more pressurized due to the cold. He needed to stop his twin as soon as possible so he could avoid collateral damage. “So what are you going to do?” asked the Moment. The speedster used his speed mind to quickly think of several scenarios and the outcomes. In the end he decided on one. “I can’t get close so I’ll strike him from long range. How cold is it right now?” The Moment disappeared briefly and came back. “Minus 30 degrees celsius. But it’s dropping rapidly.” Letting out a sigh, Ronald started to accumulate his kinetic energy inside his arms.

For one, the waiting time was exceedingly long. She'd arrived thirty minutes earlier and the only thing they'd served her was a cup of tea. Granted, it was the latest restaurant across Russell Street so like her, there were many people who want to try out the food. Two, the waiters dressed up in tunics and had blue beards. She supposed the owner thought it would be a great way to pay homage to the folktale and at the same time, promote the branding. It was utterly stupid. Three, the deco was too cheesy. There were several fake doors tucked into alcoves with ridiculous signs hanging from wooden boards. One in particular appeared to be a real door and had the words, 'Do not enter. Dead wives inside'. She'd seen a couple of staff members using the door so she'd assumed the warning was some twisted joke to the standard 'Authorized Personnel Only'.

May checked the time on her phone and let out a groan. If they didn't serve her food in ten minutes, she swore she would walk out and spread nasty reviews at her campus. A Public Economics book lay on her lap. Her eyes were anywhere but on the notes. She took a sip of her tea and tasted a hint of lemon. At least the drink was good.

She snapped the book shut and slipped it in her bag. There was no point in reading. The mid-assessment tests were three weeks away. Besides, her attention wasn't on price elasticities of demand and supply. No, May would rather think of the ocean. For a moment, she closed her eyes and visualized a wide expanse of bluish-green water. She heard the rustle of palm trees and the call of seagulls, felt the coarse grains of sands tickling her bare toes and smelled the scent of brine.

"Your order, miss," a voice pulled her from her daydream.

She opened her eyes and watched as the waiter served her three slices of strawberry sheet cake on a lace-edged plate.

"Would you like anything else?"

"No, thank you." May glared at his fake blue beard."The cake looks delicious but I just have one serious complaint. Would you please get rid of the beard? It's atrocious."

Embarrassed, the waiter blushed hard and excused himself. She imagined what it would be like if his buddies ever came to the bistro. They'd make fun of him so much that he'd be roasted by the time they left.

Her stomach growled.

She really should stop her bad habit of skipping breakfast and relying on energy bars and caffeine to get through the day. It wasn't because she had no concern for her health. With Economics classes packed throughout the day and her night job at the Hive, May just didn't have the time for a proper meal. Not that the sheet cake was a proper meal. Still, it was surprisingly the best cake she'd had in months. Maybe she should have given the restaurant a tiny bit of credit.

As she ate her last piece of cake, a sudden coldness seeped through her skin. May shivered. She'd have blamed it on her imagination if the other diners didn't have the same reaction. They trembled and stared wide-eyed as though questioning their own sanity. This cold...it was unusual.

Something was wrong.

Standing up, May turned her gaze to the street. Throngs of people rushed past the sidewalk, looking over their shoulders in fear. She dropped a few wads of cash on the table, picked up her bag and left in haste. It was colder outside and dread hung heavy in the air. People bumped into her as she stood still, listening to rumors and warnings passed between one stranger to another. A fight had broken out between two Supers and it was getting worse.

She had to do something.

Rushing to an alley, May dropped her bag and let her power stir from slumber. In seconds, she was scaling the walls of a storey building, crawling like a spider. Up on the rooftops, she headed for the source of the commotion.

Last edited by Risa; 08-12-2018 at 01:27 PM.

"It was impossible, of course. But when did that ever stop any dreamer from dreaming?"

“Minus 45.” said the Moment. The colder it got, the more difficult it became for Ronald to run continuously in circles. “You are only making it worse.” protested the speedster. He wondered why his twin was decreasing the temperature so slowly. During their previous battle, in Dublin, he had managed to freeze the streets almost instantly. Such a speed was displayed that even Ronald was caught off guard. Was it possible that Wesley was using his powers in a more refined way? To see if this was true, Ronald stepped his right foot harder than usual, believing that it would be enough to break the ice. But to his surprise it wasn’t. Wesley had started to manifest his powers more carefully, by structuring his ice better while sacrificing his reaction time. “I’m only reminding you.” replied the Moment, almost annoyed by Ronald’s tone. “Besides haven’t you accumulated enough energy already?” she continued, prompting the man to glance at his body. His thoughts about Wesley and his powers had kept his mind occupied enough. “Seems like it.” he remarked with a smile. His arms and body was engulfed by light yellow colored lightning. Now he needed to find a safe spot to halt his movement. This proved to be impossible quite soon, as the ground was covered by Wesley’s ice. So instead of ceasing to move, Ronald decided to do something else. He ran directly towards Wesley and as expected, his twin decreased the temperature even further but in a smaller area that encapsulated both of them. As the speedster’s body temperature plummeted, so did his speed. He made a slow punching motion with his right hand and released the excess energy from close range. Afterwards the lightning bolt quickly travelled towards Wesley and hit him squarely in the chest. Following that was an explosion that obscured the view of nearby observers.

May leaned on the side of a tower, unperturbed by the forces of gravity. Digital screens flashed dizzying colors over Times Square. On any other day, the streets below would be teeming with pedestrians rushing to and from work, yellow cabs whizzing by and motorcycles slipping through the crowds. Today, Times Square was almost desolate. Civilians ran away from the intersection, fearing for their lives. Empty cars were trapped in the traffic and several shops had been left open, abandoned by their owners.

What the hell happened there? May thought as she narrowed her eyes at a large portion of frozen ground.

Shards of ice bloomed from the surface like needles meant to skewer. A telephone booth lay mangled beyond recognition and a lonely taxi had been flipped on its side, it windows crashed and its doors swinging open in the cold breeze. In the middle of it all, two figures fought.

May let out a gasp.

She recognized them first by their distinctive abilities. A dark-haired young man made circles around his opponent, moving so fast she'd have a hard time keeping track of his movements if she wasn't one of the Supers. His opponent was white-haired, slim and the source of the ruckus. He had been the culprit behind the sudden extreme temperatures.

"Why are they here?" she whispered, feeling the bite of the cold as she jumped on top of a billboard that pulsed with light.

The white-haired man was Wesley Miles and it hadn’t been long since he’d made the news. She remembered the news flash that interrupted her favorite sci-fi drama series, Stars Above. Leon Walker, an intergalactic space pirate and her secret crush, had been forced to walk out of an airlock when his mortal enemies took control of his ship. He’d just tumbled out of space when the TV news interrupted the show. The headlines read, Dublin Frozen and the videos of the streets of Dublin hadn’t been pretty.

Frowning, May leapt to the next tower, drawing closer to the scene. As she landed on a construction scaffold, a resounding blast echoed throughout the city. A flock of birds took flight, cawing in the distance. She peered at the scene below.

"It was impossible, of course. But when did that ever stop any dreamer from dreaming?"

As the smoke and dust cleared out the twins slowly emerged. Ronald seemed to be doing okay; he had managed to maintain his balance after throwing lightning. But the same couldn’t be said for Wesley. He was crouching on the ground, huffing. Half of his chest and his entire lower body below had been turned into organic ice as a self defense mechanism. He knew that ice was a poor conductor of electricity but even so he had received a considerable amount of damage. Looking down to inspect his legs recover, he noticed that the organic ice around his calves had cracked deeply. Same could be said for his upper right chest area. Perhaps Ronald hadn’t hit him with only electricity; the Moment probably aided him and channeled her extra dimensional energy into it. Or similarly, his organic ice functioned slightly more different than regular ice. Either way, things hadn’t gone his way. Looking at Ronald with hatred, the white haired man let out a sigh. The ice on his injured parts started to move and eventually covered the entirety of his body. Afterwards the ice around him began to melt. “No. No, no, no, no, no.” whispered the speedster under his breath. Although the temperature was rising again, he knew what that coupled with Wesley’s full body conversion meant: his twin was going to escape. He ran towards him at full speed but once he reached him, there was only a puddle of water, which soon turned into vapor and dissipated into thin air. Feeling incredibly disappointed, and beyond that angry, Ronald ran towards a nearby building that was undergoing construction and made his way to its top. “NO! DAMMIT!” he yelled and fell down on his knees. As the temperature returned back to normal at Times Square, Ronald silently broke down, knowing his tears wouldn’t freeze anymore.

Wounded by the blast, Wesley Miles covered his body with ice. She thought he was preparing himself for a counter-attack despite his injuries but the rise in temperatures signaled a possible retreat. True enough, the dark-haired man ran towards Wesley in a burst of speed but by the time he reached him, Wesley had turned into vapor and vanished into thin air.

She’d been too late and so had the other man.

He climbed up the building she was on and reached the rooftop. May scanned the intersection below as sirens shrilled. Policemen approached the vicinity, wary at first but more confident as the ice slowly melted on the ground. Several paramedics helped calm agitated civilians and a few wheeled injured patients into the waiting ambulances. Muttering a silent prayer, she hoped they would be okay.

As she dropped from the scaffold, May heard a curse being yelled out from above. It was laced with rage and frustration. No doubt, she was pretty pissed off herself. If only she hadn’t been distracted by the strawberry sheet cake, she might have arrived at the scene earlier. She found herself climbing up the building and within minutes, she vaulted over the wall, landed on the rooftop and approached the dark-haired man.

He was on his knees, his back facing her and was he…crying?

Blood pounded in May’s ears. Numerous reactions bounced in her mind. Should she approach him and offer consolation? Give him a pat on the back and a few kind words? May cringed at the thought of touching a stranger. No, that was a horrible idea. Maybe she should crack a joke to cheer things up? After all, the atmosphere was way too somber. No, no, that was unspeakable. Appalling. Horrendous even.

Really, now. What was I thinking? I should just get back and help the parademics, she thought.

She took a step back and cursed under her breath as she stepped on a strip of roofing sheet. The damned thing clunked loudly, giving her location away.

"It was impossible, of course. But when did that ever stop any dreamer from dreaming?"

Wiping his eyes with his palms, the speedster looked down on the streets. Their fight had been brief, yet the Times Square had suffered immensely. The square was crowded once again, but with policemen and medics. Hearing the sirens of the ambulances and the police cars, Ronald sighed. Every single time he encountered his twin brother after a long duration, a fight like this would break out. And each time the destruction they caused would get on a whole new level. Of course, the damage they dealt that day wasn’t comparable to what had happened to Dublin two years ago, but that was purely because their interaction this time hadn’t lasted very long. Just as he was thinking how Wesley had grown since they last saw each other, a clinking noise came from the speedster’s back. Ronald turned his head to see who or what had caused it: it was a woman who stood around 1.60 meters with white hair and golden eyes. At this point Ronald didn’t know what to do. Was it a civilian? If so why she approaching so silently. If not, then what was she trying to do? Either way, to see someone so calm and unaffected by the battle that had transpired not too long ago was surprising. “She’s not a civilian.” said the Moment at that exact second, appearing behind the girl. “She’s a super like you. So… guards up!” With her suggestion, Ronald did what he did best: he made a sneak attack and used his speed to gain momentum, which he used to push the girl down. “I should have known from the hair!” he commented as a reply to the Moment, referring to its white color being similar to his twin brother’s. “Who are you?!” he yelled. The girl was already pinned down to the ground and Ronald was on top of her. He was holding her right ankle with his left hand whereas his right hand was vibrating at very high frequencies like a chainsaw, ready to strike.

May was pinned on the floor, the pain at the back of her head dissipating as her regenerative abilities kicked in. To say she was uncomfortable was an understatement. The man was on top of her, his right hand moving like a chainsaw. He was obviously threatening her and she didn’t like it at all. For the record, she would never try to console a sorrowful guy again, especially if he happened to be a Super who talked to himself loudly and acted touchy.

“May.” She looked daggers at the man. “My name is May.”

She didn’t bother giving him her surname. He’d have to be a lot politer to earn that. Besides, her surname wasn’t going to get her out of the mess. To combat hostility, she’d have to stay unruffled. And she did. She felt a wave of calmness wash over her as her breaths evened out and her pulse slowed to its steady beat.

Letting out a sigh, she said, “Would you get off me?”

A flood of power surged all over her skin. She didn’t release any of it but merely kept it ready so that if push ever came to shove, she’d strengthen her body until it became harder than carbyne.

Last edited by Risa; 07-21-2018 at 08:56 PM.

"It was impossible, of course. But when did that ever stop any dreamer from dreaming?"

The girl shared her name with him, which was a pretty normal thing to do after how he had asked about her identity. Yet, the way she did it was unexpected; she had remained very calm. So much that even her heartbeat hadn’t changed, which the speedster could feel from holding her right hand from the wrist. “Oh… right.” he muttered as he stopped his right hand from vibrating. He had thought that maybe this girl was associated with Wesley but that simply wasn’t the case. She was probably just another super that happened to be around. “Sorry about that. I momentarily thought you were associated with the person responsible for all this mess.” he explained and freed the girl from his grip. Instead he held her hand and pulled her towards his direction so she could stand up again. “Hope I didn’t hurt you.” Before letting her hand go, Ronald decided to share the Moment with the girl. He had felt how hard and heavy her skin had gotten. Perhaps this was her power, though there were still no visible indications of a healing factor. If he did bruise her when he pushed her down, he would want her injuries to be gone quickly. At the moment of contact, the woman would feel a jolt of lightning entering her body and coursing through it. As he stepped back he waited for the effects to showcase themselves. This would also make the Moment visible to her, so she would be able to see the blonde woman standing behind Ronald. “It had been a while since you last extended your powers to somebody… How nice.” remarked the Moment sarcastically. She didn’t like being seen by other people. Upon this statement she received a serious look from Ronald. “Nobody’s forcing you to make an appearance.” Despite what he said, the speedster was kind of glad that May could see the Moment. At least he wouldn’t look like he was talking to himself anymore.